Camera IconWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is gravely ill, according to reports, and unable to leave the Ecuadorean Embassy for treatment, his condition may be life-threatening. AFP Photo/Ben StansallPicture: AFP

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WIKILEAKS publisher Julian Assange is in extremely poor health and unless he is released from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, his condition may deteriorate to the point where his life is in jeopardy.

Australian lawyer Greg Barns, who is a member of Assange’s legal team and also an adviser to WikiLeaks, told iTWire that Assange had not been able to access medical treatment for six years.

This was because the UK Government won’t let him leave the Ecuadorean Embassy to see a doctor, according to Mr Barns — in case he is arrested.

“This is a cruel and inhumane stance from a government professing to be a liberal democracy,” Barns said.

“What is remarkable is that Julian remains so mentally alert and is able to function physically given the inevitable impact of six years detention without natural light or access to fresh air on a constant basis.

Camera IconJulian Assange has been detained in the Embassy of Ecuador for six years and is now seriously ill, according to reports.Picture: Supplied

“However if there is not a resolution to his case — in other words, the UK guaranteeing that he will not be extradited to the US — the reality is Julian’s health will deteriorate to the point where his life is in serious danger.”

According to reports, Assange is still mentally alert and able to function physically, despite enduring six years of detention and without regular exposure to sunlight or fresh air.

iTWire also reported that the Australian journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, has not commented on Assange’s plight.

The news comes as Ecuador is being pressured to end Assange’s asylum so he can be arrested by British police.

There are reports he may be extradited to the US where Robert Mueller is understood to be looking into Assange and Wikileaks as part of his Russian election investigation.

Norwegian police also said they were investigating the disappearance of the WikiLeaks founder’s associate Arjen Kamphuis, a cyber security expert.

“We have started an investigation,” police spokesman Tommy Bech told AFP, adding that so far they had no clue about the Dutch citizen’s whereabouts.

The police “would not speculate about what may have happened to him,” Bech said.

WikiLeaks tweeted on Kamphuis’s “strange disappearance”, saying he had been missing since August 20 when he left his hotel in the northern Norwegian town of Bodo.

It added that Kamphuis had a ticket for a flight departing on August 22 from Trondheim, a city located more than 700 kilometres (435 miles) south of Bodo.

“The train between the two takes (approximately) 10 hours,” suggesting he disappeared either in Bodo, Trondheim or on the train, WikiLeaks said, triggering numerous conspiracy theories on Twitter.

Assange has been holed up at Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012 when he was granted political asylum as he feared extradition to the United States to face trial over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.